Acceptance

Eliminated Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey is now speaking out on who is best for Brad Womack while also defending fellow contestant Emily in a new interview.

“In watching the show now, I still feel the same way I did when I left and I think Ashley [Hebert] and Emily [Maynard] have the strongest connection with Brad,” Ashley, 26, told reporters.

As for the comments Emily Maynard, 24, has received from some of the contestants on the show plus some fans who believe she might not be ready to move on yet following the tragic death of her fiance in 2004, Ashley states she sees things differently. “I don’t think people give her enough credit,” says Ashley. “She is very strong and if everyone would quit talking about [her past] long enough, they would see that she’s ready to move on and she’s ready to start a new chapter in her life.”

Moving on to Chantal O’Brien, who is rumored to be a final four contestant on the show, as the February 7 issue of Life & Style magazine questions if Chantal is still in love with her ex.

That ex would be Jason Vena, her ex-husband and former lead singer of the band Acceptance. High school sweethearts Chantal and Jason were married from 2005 to 2009, and the mag reveals Chantal still hoped to get back together with him just weeks before she left to film The Bachelor.

According to Life & Style, Chantal and Jason divorced after 10 years together, largely because Chantal felt the romance had gone stale. However, she almost immediately started to regret the split. “She knew she’d made a mistake,” says an insider.

And even though Jason had moved on and found love with a woman named Tawny Ingwaldson (Jason and Tawny are recently engaged), Chantal desperately tried to get him to reconcile with her. “Right before she left to film the show, she told Jason she wouldn’t go on The Bachelor if he took her back,” the insider reveals. “Chantal begged and pleaded and cried. Jason was in a lot of pain over it, but at the end of the day he said no.”

Following Jason’s rejection, Chantal then made the choice to go film The Bachelor and open herself up to the possibility of finding love again. Photos of Jason Vena below including one with his fiance Tawny.

And finally, it seems controversy does indeed sell as last week’s very controversial episode of the Bachelor (the Emily Nascar date) proved to be a ratings hit for ABC. The episode brought in 9.5 million viewers for the network, making it the most watched episode of the season.

A new episode of the Bachelor airs tonight at 8/7c.

TELL US – DO YOU THINK EMILY IS READY TO MOVE ON? DO YOU BELIEVE CHANTAL IS STILL IN LOVE WITH HER EX? THOUGHTS ON TONIGHT’S NEW EPISODE?